


a pocket full of tealeaves

by MapleLemonCandy



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Death Fix, Fix-It, Mollymauk Tealeaf Lives, idk what else to tag this as for now so whatever here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapleLemonCandy/pseuds/MapleLemonCandy
Summary: So, I've already posted this fic before, but I was unhappy with how it was going so I'm gonna change some things and repost it. I hope its better and more fun to read now
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	a pocket full of tealeaves

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've already posted this fic before, but I was unhappy with how it was going so I'm gonna change some things and repost it. I hope its better and more fun to read now

Dirt fell into his eyes as they peeled open. He took a few breathes in, feeling heavy resistance against his chest. He reached up, feeling the dirt that surrounded him, and tried to throw it to the side. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his ears. He dug his nails into the dirt, clawing through the ground above him until he had made a small hole. He gasped, trying to take in as much air as possible before he continued clawing through the ground. 

There was a burning sensation from under his nails. He hissed, but kept digging until he’d made a big enough hole to pull himself out of. He kneeled on the ground, lungs burning, and pressed his forehead on the cold, wet dirt. He closed his eyes, taking a moment to rest, and let his mind run wild with questions. _Where should he go? Where could he go? What should he do?_

He was so tired. He just needed to sleep, all he wanted was to sleep. But he couldn’t. Not here. Not outside, alone, in the cold. He took another moment to rest his eyes, then glanced down at his hands. He’d lost a few finger nails from his desperate dig. Then, he looked up. A wooden cross loomed over him, a flamboyant, colourful jacket hanging from it. The light behind the cross was blindingly bright, but the jacket’s shadow concealed him. 

He reached out, grabbing the jacket and slipping it on. A folded up piece of paper fell from the pocket of the jacket, which he quickly reached to pick up. He unfolded the paper. His eyes skimmed the words, and... they were there, all right. He knew how to read them, but the way they had been written on this page made it nearly impossible. They seemed to dance around the page, rearranging themselves just to fuck with him.

_“Your name is Mollymauk Tealeaf.”_ Was the first phrase he managed to decode. Soon after, he managed the make out the sentences after it. _“The person writing this is named Caleb Widogast. I am your friend.”_

Mollymauk looked around, trying to take in his surroundings. Rolling hills encircled him, with a few trees dotting the landscape. Thin blankets of bright white coated the scenery, with a dirt road cutting through it. 

A shiver ran through his body. Molly collected the belongings buried with him, then just started following the road. He needed to find someplace warm.

He walked for hours without stopping, just stuck in his own head for the most part. Molly tried to remember anything he could, anything about his life beforehand, the _friend_ who had written him a letter, anything, but the only thing he could remember was a few nameless faces; Three woman, one pale with long, black hair, another tanned with brown hair tied up into a bun, and the final one being a blue tiefling with a cute bobbed haircut.

The sun was setting, and he still hadn’t found a warm place to rest. His body was shaking from exhaustion and the hypothermia that would probably overtake him soon. Maybe this would be his end once again. 

The loud, clopping sound of horse hooves and a moving cart behind him frightened him. Molly heard a neigh from the horses, and they slowed next to him. A dark skinned Elven woman sat at the front, chewing on the end of a stock of wheat.

“Not often that I see someone like you around.” The woman driving the cart said. “Where ya headin’, child?”

He couldn’t respond. His voice wasn’t with him.

“Child?” She repeated.

Molly fumbled through the pockets of his coat, until he found the note from Caleb. He landed it to the woman. She took a moment to read the letter, then hummed to herself.

“Hop on the cart, child, I’m headin’ through Zadash. I’ll give ya a ride.”

He nodded, climbing into the cart. It was filled with burlap sacks, probably containing the last harvest of crops for the year. She tugged on the reigns, and the horses began trotting again, cart jumping a bit on the bumpy dirt road.. He cuddled into the sacks. They provided just enough warmth to stop him from shaking.

“My name’s Jozana.” She said, turning to flash him a quick smile. “Are you Mollymauk?”

All he could do was nod.

“What’s wrong, young one? Cat got ya tongue?”

Another nod.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. I bet a cute one like you would be a good talker.”

Molly’s lips tugged into a soft smile.

“Should only take us a few days to get to Zadash. I’ll drop ya off just inside the gates.”

“Mighty Nein, Mighty Nein,” He repeated softly, over and over, his voice suddenly coming to him.

“Those ya friends?”

Molly shrugged. Maybe they were his friends, maybe they weren’t. He couldn’t remember.

“Get some rest child, you look like you need it.” 

He nodded, getting comfortable among the sacks. Sleep filled him with a sense of discomfort. 

_It was too dark, and then it was too bright. He turned his head to one side, then the other. He was surrounded by pastel coloured flowers, and bright green grass. It was nice. It was peaceful, it was warm._

_A shadow suddenly loomed over him, which he quickly looked up to examine. The pale woman he’d seen before stood over him, a gentle look on her face._

_“Hey Molly, I want to try something.” She said. “Can you sit up for me?”_

_“Of course, darling.” He grinned, sitting up. He had suddenly lost control of his body._

_The woman knelt behind him, her hands tugging at his hair. A few minutes passed before she said, “I’m not as good at braiding as you are, but you look nice with flowers in your hair, Molly.”_

_“Oh, you flatter me, dear.”_

He woke up feeling… relieved, like he had received a hug from a close friend. 

“Mornin’, Mollymauk. There’s some fruit in some of those sacks. Feel free to take some if you’re hungry.”

Molly nodded, but he didn’t feel like eating.

It felt like forever had passed when they reached the gates of Zadash. Jozana was pleasant company; She always had a kind smile on her face, and the way she talked about her wife and son filled Molly’s heart with joy.

“So, this is your stop then.” She said kindly. “Take care of yourself, child. I hope you can find your friends swiftly.”

He nodded, giving a quick bow to thank her after climbing off. She tipped her straw hat before continuing on her journey.

Mollymauk took a deep breath in, taking in the busy city atmosphere. People of all races walked by, some dressed in colourful, eccentric clothing, some in browns, grays, and muted colours, some in rags, some in silks and ribbons. 

He pulled out the letter from Caleb once again, and tried to read it one last time. The words still danced and constantly rearranged themselves, like a marching troop of bards on fucking cocaine. 

He tried to focus harder on the letter, trying to extract any information he could out of it. _”Evening Nip.” “The Gentleman.”_

What the fuck? How the _fuck_ was he supposed to figure out what that meant? He couldn’t just go around asking people, even if he had the ability to talk. He pondered the letter a little longer, when suddenly, a word formed on the tip of his tongue, and he couldn’t keep himself from whispering it to himself.

_”Lost,”_

An overwhelming anxiety overtook him. What was he supposed to do? What could he do? He didn’t know how to locate his old friends, and he had practically no memory of anything that happened before he woke in that hole in the ground. 

The cold air seemed to cling to him. He couldn’t keep standing out here. He patted down his pockets, looking for any scrapes of gold or silver that had been left on him, just enough for him to get a cheap drink at a cheap tavern and sit someplace warm until they kicked him out. He patted and searched every pocket in his clothes, but they all came up empty. Real shitty of his _friends_ to leave him without any coin but somehow expect him to find his way back to them. 

Fuck it, he’d just walk the streets aimlessly until he found _something_ that might help him make money. Which is what he did. He walked. And walked. And walked, until the sun had set, the streets emptied, and the air around him went from cold to freezing. 

His limbs were getting heavier by the second, until he eventually just sat down next to a building, leaned against the cold wall, and closed his eyes. Maybe looking for his “friends” wasn’t worth it. Maybe trying to find someplace warm wasn’t worth it. Maybe coming back at all wasn’t worth it. Maybe he should have just stayed in that hole and suffocated. 

Snowflakes landed delicately on his eyelashes, snowflakes he didn’t have the energy to blink away. They painted him in a heavy sheet of white, like a frustrated artist trying to reset their canvas.

_”Blank.”_

_”Empty.”_

A beam of soft light hit his face as a large hand slid under his armpits, pulling him to his feet. He was dragged _somewhere._ His eyelids were too heavy to open. He was placed on some soft surface, heat radiating from an object to his left, and a blanket was placed over him.

“Can you hear me?” A deep, comforting voice asked. Molly gave a weak nod, unable to muster anything else.

“How long were you out there for?”

_”Empty,”_

His voice was hoarse, merely a husk of what it once was.

_“Lost,”_

“What?” The deep voice sounded perplexed. “What do you mean?”

Mollymauk gave no reply. He didn’t know how.

“Uh, can you-can you open your eyes?”

It took more of a struggle than it should have, but his eyelids peeled back, and he met eyes with a gorgeous human man. He had a soft face, brown skin, and the prettiest, long, black hair in tight curls.

“What’s your name?”

“Molly-Mollymauk,” he felt as if his throat were made of nails, scraping against each other as he talked.

“Your name’s Mollymauk?” 

The tiefling nodded.

“Stay here for a minute, Mollymauk.” 

The man turned and wandered off. He heard the wood squeaking as he walked out of Molly’s sight, then the sound of something pouring into a cup. He reappeared with a tankard in hand that he held out.

“Here, have a drink.”

With a pained grunt, Mollymauk sat up, and grabbed the tankard. He put the brim to his lips, and took a small sip. It was mulled wine, and damn good mulled wine. It only took Molly thirty seconds to down the rest of the tankard. 

“Can you get up?” He asked. Molly had to exert more force than he should have to stand, and even then he could only stay up for a few seconds before his legs gave in. Luckily, the human’s strong arms caught him before he hit the floor. 

He guided the tiefling up the nearby staircase, and to the second to last of the identical doors on the left. The door opened, revealing a reasonably nice inn room with a fluffy looking bed, a clean, wooden desk and matching chair, and a few unlit candles.

“My name’s Emile, by the way.” He said as he helped Molly lay down. 

He left quickly, and Molly cuddled with the pillow next to him. His body seemed to sink into the bed as consciousness left him.

For awhile, there was just black. Textured black, strands of black hair.

_“Are you almost done, Molly?”_

_The voice was a bit deep, but soft and sweet. He looked down to find his hands working busily, making intricate braids in the mass of hair in front of him. Without his signal, his mouth moved, words pouring smoothly from his lips._

_“Just another minute, darling. You’re gonna look stunning.”_

And then it was gone again. His eyes opened, and he was back in the inn room. It was quiet. He glanced to the window, and spent a minute to watch the snowflakes fall passed.

There was a soft knock on the door.

“Mollymauk?” Emile opened the door just enough to poke his head into the room. “Do you need help getting downstairs for breakfast?”

Molly shook his head, pulling himself out of bed. He had to hold onto the wall, but he was able to make it out of the room, and down the stairs. 

“Just have a seat at one of the tables, Mollymauk, and I’ll have breakfast ready soon.” 

A few minutes later, Emile had placed a plate of food in front of him. Molly ate slowly, the large stack of breakfast meats and bread making him feel a bit sick.

Molly looked up as another person descended from the staircase. They had long, blond hair and typically Elven features. 

“Good morning, Sunflower.” Emile said with a smile.

The blond glanced over at Mollymauk.

“Is this the one you told me about, Emi?” They asked.

“Yeah, that’s Mollymauk. Mollymauk, this is Lynn, my partner.”

“They are quite cute. I hope you’re feeling better, Mollymauk.”

He gave a quick nod, shoving another piece of bread into his mouth. 

“Can you speak, hun?”

Before he could reply himself, Emile cut in. 

“He can’t speak well. But I can help him work on that, Lynn.”

“That doesn’t make this any less wonderful, Emile. Having a cute barmaid like this one will surely skyrocket the business.”

Molly flashed Emile a confused look. 

“Uh, yeah, I didn’t tell you last night. We’re really only gonna be able to let you stay here if you work for us.”

That seemed fair. He didn’t want to just freeload off other people all the time.

“Can you talk any better than last night?”

“I thi-I think so.” He said softly. 

“With someone as cute as you, I don’t think you’ll even need to talk to pack in the customers.”

Lynn’s comment made him smile. Fuck yeah, he _was_ cute. He was super fucking cute.

Maybe everything would end up okay. Maybe he would be better off staying with Emile and Lynn.

“Finish your meal and I’ll start your training, Mollymauk.” 

Molly nodded.

—

“Alright, so if you need to bring out a lot of drinks, you put them on a tray, and balance the tray on your palm like this.” Emile demonstrated carrying the tray, then handed it to Molly. “You try.”

Molly balanced the tray carefully on his open palm, trying hard to control the light shaking in his wrist. 

“Alright, that’s good. When an order’s gonna go out, I’ll tell you which table to go to, and then just put the drinks on the table.”

He nodded yet again. 

After a few months of working for Emile and Lynn, and doing vocal exercises, Lynn sat him down while the tavern was empty. They had a hand harp with them, and plucked away at the strings slowly. 

“Have you ever played one of these before?” They asked.

“No I don’t- I don’t think I have.” Molly replied.

“Well, you’re going to learn. I’ll teach you. Then we’re gonna have you play music in here every once in a while. Liven the place up a bit. Can you sing?”

“I… I don’t know. I don’t know if I ever tried.”

“Just do what I do, Mollymauk. I have faith that you’ll pick this up quickly.”

Lynn played a few simple cords on the hand harp, then handed it to Molly. “You try.”

He plucked at the strings nervously, not wanting to break the delicate-looking strings. He stopped, glancing up at Lynn for approval. They smiled at him.

“Wonderful. You’re going to bring so much business to us, Molly dear.”

Molly grinned.


End file.
